"I enjoy it, Bo." Besand trailed him to the overgrown hummock. "Going to have to clear this out. Just can't keep up anymore. No; enough men, not enough money."

"Could you get it right away? That's where I want to dig, I think. Poison ivy."

"Oh, 'ware poison ivy, Bo." Besand snickered. Each summer Bomanz cursed his way through numerous botanical afflictions. "About Tokar…"

"I don't deal with people who want to break the law. That's been my rule forever. Nobody bothers me anymore."

"Oblique but acceptable."

Bomanz's wand twitched. "I'll be dipped in sheep shit. Right in the middle."

"Sure?"

"Look at it jump. Must've buried them in one big hole."

"About Tokar…"

"What about him, dammit? You want to hang him, go ahead. Just give me time to hook up with somebody else who can handle my business as good."

"I don't want to hang anybody, Bo. I just want to warn you. There's a rumor out of Oar that says he's a Resurrectionist. "

Bomanz dropped his rod. He gobbled air. "Really? A Resurrectionist?"

The Monitor scrutinized him intently. "Just a rumor. I hear all kinds. Thought you might want to know. We're as close as two men get around here."

Bomanz accepted the olive branch. "Yeah. Honestly, he's never dropped a hint. Whew! That's a load to drop on a man." A load which deserved some heavy thinking. "Don't tell anybody what I found. That thief Men fu…"

Besand laughed yet again. His mirth had a sephulchral quality.

"You enjoy your work, don't you? I mean, harassing people who don't dare fight back."

"Careful, Bo. I could drag you in for questioning." Besand spun, stalked away.

Bomanz sneered at his back. Of course Besand enjoyed his job. It let him play dictator. He could do anything to anyone without having to answer for it.

Once the Dominator and his minions fell and were buried in their mounds behind barriers wrought of the finest magicks of their day, the White Rose decreed that an eternal guard be posted. A guard beholden to none, charged with preventing the resurrection of the undead evil beneath the mounds. The White Rose understood human nature. Always there would be those who would see profit in using or following the Dominator. Always there would be worshippers of evil who wished their champion freed.

The Resurrectionists appeared almost before the grass sprouted on the barrows.

Tokar a Resurrectionist? Bomanz thought. Don't I have enough trouble? Besand will pitch his tent in my pocket now.

Bomanz had no interest in reviving the old evils. He merely wanted to make contact with one of them so as to illuminate several ancient mysteries.

Besand was out of sight. He should stomp all the way back to his quarters. There would be time for a few forbidden observations. Bomanz realigned his transit.

The Barrowland did not have the look of great evil, only of neglect. Four hundred years of vegetation and weather had restructured that once marvelous work. The barrows and mystical landscaping were all but lost amidst the brush covering them. The Eternal Guard no longer had the wherewithal to perform adequate upkeep. Monitor Besand was fighting a desperate rearguard action against time itself.